When Qiao Zhixia woke up, it was already seven o'clock in the evening. There were still thirty minutes before the time agreed with Qin Yunlang. She immediately got out of bed and washed up.
She tied her hair into a neat high ponytail, changed into a white long skirt decorated with ruffles, and paired it with white high-heeled leather shoes.
When she changed her shoes, she found that her foot injury had recovered a lot. She only felt a little discomfort, which did not affect her walking.
When I went downstairs and arrived in front of the hotel, I saw a black Santara parked on the side of the road. A man in a leather jacket had half of his face hidden in the darkness, and the flickering red dots on his fingertips indicated that he was smoking.
"Qin Yunlang, have you been waiting for a long time?" She took two quick steps over.
Qin Yunlang put out the cigarette in his mouth, turned around and appeared under the street light, with a gentle smile on his handsome face: "Get in the car!"
Qiao Zhixia was about to sit in the back, but Qin Yunlang had already opened the passenger door for her, so she had no choice but to get in.
The car drove steadily all the way to the riverside and finally stopped at a place where we could enjoy the beautiful night view.
After Qin Yunlang got out of the car, he very gentlemanly opened the door for Qiao Zhixia, then protected her head as he got out of the car, took her down the stairs, and boarded a neon-lit cruise ship.
It turns out that the parade he was talking about was on the boat, where guests could enjoy the night view while enjoying delicious food.
The two got on the boat and just as they found a quiet place to sit down, the cruise started.
"What do you like to eat?" Qin Yunlang handed the menu to her and asked her to order whatever she wanted.
Qiao Zhixia naturally wouldn't be polite to him and ordered the signature pork offal porridge, grilled oysters, grilled prawns, grilled lamb chops...
Then have a cup of special cooling tea to relieve dryness.
Soon, after all the dishes were served, Qiao Zhixia came back from washing her clothes and started eating.
The lights from the night scene on both sides of the strait passed over her satisfied face. Qin Yunlang felt inexplicably relieved when he saw how deliciously she ate.
"You haven't written to me in these years. I guess you've been doing well." Qin Yunlang seemed to be asking her, but also seemed to be talking to himself.
He didn't tell her that he had actually been waiting for her letter.
But, I never waited for it.
Qiao Zhixia looked up from the pile of delicious food, not noticing his disappointment, and said truthfully: "It's OK! Just barely passable, but definitely can't compare to you."
He has already driven the car, so his career must be successful.
Qin Yunlang smiled calmly, "It shouldn't be a problem to have enough food and clothing. You and that kid named Chen..."
"I kicked him out, and now I am beautiful alone. How about you? You are twenty, right? Who is your sister-in-law?"
Qin Yunlang lowered his eyes and smiled softly: "I have been delayed by things and am still a single man now."
The shrimp in Qiao Zhixia's mouth rolled into the porridge bowl. She opened her mouth in a little surprise and asked, "Aren't your family members urging you to come?"
Qin Yunlang peeled the shrimp for her skillfully, "Hurry up! But no one can force fate."
Qiao Zhixia nodded, "That's right. Besides, your family is well-off and you are not too old. You will definitely meet someone you like in the future."
Qin Yunlang smiled without saying anything and just peeled shrimps for her silently.
Qiao Zhixia looked at the pile of intact shrimp shells, and her thoughts drifted back to the time before she and Chen Jidong had a fight.
That year was Wang Ruoqiu's first year in the countryside.
Chen Jidong brought her four spicy shrimps in their shells. She was so moved that she couldn't bear to eat any herself and left some for her sister and mother. Her father refused to eat any, so she shared the other two with Wang Ruoqiu.
But when they went to the educated youth dormitory, they found that Wang Ruoqiu's lunch box was full of shelled shrimps.
"Zhizhi, you came just in time. Dong brought a lot of shrimps to 놖, but 놖 couldn't finish them all. He was so considerate as to help 놖 peel the shells..."
At that moment, she was like a fool.
"Zhizhi, don't get me wrong! My finger was cut by Mi Ye two days ago, so Brother Dong had to help me peel shrimps. I really envy you for being such a considerate person." Wang Ruoqiu's anxious tone and complacent eyes were full of sarcasm.
She has loved eating shrimps since she was a child. She loves shrimps, river prawns, and small shrimps.
Chen Jidong had always known that her father would take a net and go catch river shrimps for her whenever he had time.
It turned out that from that time on, his love was no longer on her.
What a pity! She died once and saw it clearly.
Fortunately, she can now buy herself more shrimps than she can finish.
She will no longer expect others to give her charity and mercy.
But it feels really good to have a pair of clean and slender legs dedicated to peeling shrimps for yourself.
She was very satisfied with this midnight snack.
On the way back, Qin Yunlang asked her how many days she planned to stay in Guangzhou while driving.
Qiao Zhixia omitted the fact that she was attending the Canton Fair, saying only that it would take about ten days.
Qin Yunlang nodded, "I just happened to be on a business trip in Guangzhou recently. If you are free every night, why don't we go around together?"
"Okay~" Qiao Zhixia nodded in agreement.
The Carpenters' "Yesterday Once More" was playing on the car radio. The melody was soft and soothing, elegant and romantic.
The nostalgic melody permeated the carriage, filled with the creator's rich and deep memories of the past.
But now they are no longer innocent teenagers. There are too many helplessness and temptations in the adult world that will pollute that innocence.
The friendship we once had continues to this day, but it no longer feels the same as it did before.
The friendship between gentlemen is as pure as water. She quite likes the current distance between herself and Qin Yunlang.
Let's keep the innocence that can't be returned in our memory! At least we can leave a clean place in our hearts... to remember it.
After Qiao Zhixia entered the hotel, Qin Yunlang sat in a car on the side of the road, looking at the window on the third floor of the hotel where the light had just been turned on, for an hour.
In the next few days, after Qiao Zhixia finishes her work at the Canton Fair, she will make an appointment with Qin Yunlang to go shopping.
They went to the largest cinema in Guangzhou, watched Thunderstorm, ate Western food at a Western restaurant run by foreigners, and enjoyed a live violin performance.
They also went to listen to a traditional Cantonese opera. Qin Yunlang wore sunglasses and a leather jacket, looking like a gangster boss, but he sat with a group of old men in their seventies and eighties. They would occasionally communicate and comment in Cantonese, and even have arguments occasionally.
Not only was his Cantonese standard, but it was also exceptionally gentle, which did not match his evil and mischievous image at all. She laughed as she watched him.
After a few days of contact, it seemed as if the old familiarity had returned, at least the awkwardness when we met before was gone.
After the Cantonese opera ended, they saw a pair of young sisters selling sunflowers on the roadside. It was no wonder that they were in the south, and they were still selling sunflowers in October.
Qin Yunlang bought all the remaining dozen or so cigarettes they had and stuffed them into the bags of Qiao Zhixia.
"Take it home and peel it slowly while eating."
Qiao Zhixia staggered. Is this person particular or not?
She didn't have the energy to think too much for the moment, as she wanted to focus all her energy on dealing with the Canton Fair.
On the seventh day of the exhibition, she discovered that a booth named Huaxi Agriculture Co., Ltd. had appeared directly opposite their booth.
I don't know if it was a coincidence or intentional, but the types of exhibits on their booth were exactly the same as those at Qiao Zhixia's. Except for the lack of matsutake mushrooms, there was no difference.
The only difference is... the four cute 'bunny girls' in front of their booth, wearing alternative clothes and holding trays.
It's totally off the mark!
Qiao Zhixia immediately asked Ji An to go and have a look. After asking around, Ji An found that their quotes were slightly lower than Qiao Zhixia's.
"They are the foreign company that tried to acquire our canning factory before. Their appearance here is obviously intended for vicious competition." Ji An frowned.
Qiao Zhixia saw that people were moving around at Huaxi's booth, but no one was interested in her own booth. It was obvious that there was no profit here.
"Ji An, tell me the details of this Huaxi company. I want to see what kind of evildoers they are."
Ji An's url did contain detailed information about Huaxi Company. Qiao Zhixia took a closer look and found that it was a Japanese-funded company.
Over the past year, they have squeezed out no less than ten small and medium-sized state-owned enterprises in the country through suppression and competition, and then acquired them and injected capital to carry out a major replacement. They are disguised as state-owned enterprises, but in fact they are 100% Japanese companies.
According to Ji An's research, Hua Xi's total market value in China is close to 100 million.
They are so rich, no wonder they dare to start a price war with her.
"I guess they know that you stole the canning factory from them, and they feel threatened by Jingyang, so they want to strangle the Jingyang Group, which has not yet grown, in a cradle through vicious competition."
After listening to Ji An's analysis, Qiao Zhixia not only did not feel afraid, but it aroused her patriotic spirit.
She felt a chill in her heart as she looked at the four short-legged girls, who were posing in various ways to look cute and trying to stop passing buyers from feeding them free products.
Are these Japanese people only capable of using women to do these things?
"Competing with you? Are they a match? Xu Xiaolan, bring out the guy who's eating."
Xu Xiaolan was full of fighting spirit at this moment, and volunteered: "Zhizhi, let me come..."